Prostate Cancer Help?

Question

Hi all, thank you for reading my question. My dad was just diagonsed with prostate cancer last monday. The funny thing about this is that his PSA levels started at 7.6, when they told him he might have cancer, he changed his entire diet around, every two weeks he had to go for blood work. Everytime his PSA levels kept going down. The last PSA level he had was 4.2 and the doctor said, everything seem to be ok, but if he wanted to be 100% sure to get the biopsy done.

Well he did get the biopsy, last monday the doctor told us they found very little cancer. My dad decided to get his prostate removed, we are going to talk to the doctor again on monday to give him the decision.

My question here is, if anybody knows why his PSA levels would go down instead of up? and does this mean his cancer maybe hasn't spread? He has done a psa level for the past 2 or 3 years know, and this is teh first time cancer was diagnosed. He is 56 but very heatly otherwise. Anybody out there with experienc

Answer 1

PSA is produced by both normal prostate tissue and by cancerous tissue. The most common reason for a temporary rise of this magnetude is infection. It's also possible that he has BPH...benign enlargement...which is contributing to his PSA reading. With a reading of 7.6, I'm surprised they didn't have the biopsy done earlier.

If his choice is radical therapy, he should take some time and research options and practitioners. It takes more than 10 years for PCa to kill, so he has some time to think this through. The consequences of prostate treatment can be quite serious, and he should come to terms with the potential consequences before finalizing his decision.

If his choice is surgery, then he should consider robotic prostatectomy, which is rapidly becoming the preferred method, thanks to lower trauma and rapid recovery. It's important that his surgeon have a great deal of experience. A surgeon who has done 1000 prostatectomies would be a much better choice than one who has done 50. Although every urologist can perform this surgery, there are a small number of "artists", who are considered both by peers and patients to be more capable than average. He needs to find one of these surgeons. The probability of permanent impotence following surgery is anywhere from 20-70%, with the choice of surgeon being the key variable. And he will probably be incontinent for a period of time, with a small chance that this will be a lifetime condition.

Answer 2

PSA level can fluctuate a few points due to a few factors.
The biggest influence is sexual activity ( I know you don"t want to hear that about your Dad...) Second, infection in the prostate can cause an elevation in PSA. If the biopsy has shown ANY cancer the best course of action is treatment of some type. There are many ways to treat prostate cancer:

Radical Prostatectomy(surgical removal of prostate),

Brachytherapy(a form of radiation where small "seeds" are implanted in the prostate)

External beam radiation

Cryo therapy(the prostate is frozen to kill all the cancer)

No matter which option he chooses please make sure he does his homework before making his decision, each therapy has it's own set of possible problems. Although prostate cancer is a slow growing cancer, at age 56 your dad still has quite a few good years so any treatment is better than none.

I would be happy to e-mail more if needed
also you can check out prostatecancer.com for a more patient- to- patient source of info.
Good luck and best wishes for your father.

Answer 3

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